The school summer holiday season is now well and truly over, and workplaces are getting back to ‘normal’. But, writes Pamela Gellatly, if employers don’t want to store up problems for the future, it is vital they proactively manage and support the mental health and wellbeing of those who spent the summer slaving away to cover for their absent colleagues.
Let’s dive straight in. Our latest workplace wellbeing survey found that workers at companies with 50+ employees felt absence because of sickness or holidays has a knock-on harmful mental health impact on those colleagues who then have to step in or cover for them.
Our results showed that nearly a third (31%) of employees surveyed felt their workload pressures would ease if fewer colleagues were away or off sick.
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It found employers recognised this connection, too. Those employers who agreed that mental health conditions were the main reason for staff sickness absence in the last six months also recognised the impact on employees being left to pick up the slack.
The reasons for absence, we know, can be complex. Rising workloads generally can be seen as one key factor, with 40% of employers polled in our work citing this as a main reason for rising employee mental health-related sickness absence.
However, we also know that, when colleagues are absent, their responsibilities will often fall on to remaining team members.
This can lead to increased stress, longer working hours, and burnout, which in turn can weaken the immune system and cause these employees also to need to take time off for sickness. So something of a vicious circle is created.
Then there is the question of the summer months. Although schools are now back and it feels as if life after the summer slowdown is returning to normal, this doesn’t take away from the fact that many people choose to take holidays during the school holidays.
This means that, for those who have stayed at their desks during this period, their workloads are likely to have risen sharply. Many may now, in turn, be feeling the fallout of that added workload and pressure placed on them while their colleagues were away.
Interestingly, the size of the company had an impact on our data. Those employed by bigger organisations were more likely to be absent. This could be because of feeling such absence was going to be of less impact because of working in bigger teams.
In other words, as there will be more people available to take on the extra workload, they may feel they have ‘permission’ to call in sick if they’re not feeling 100%. It’s not that taking absence is without consequence, but it perhaps feels as if it has less consequence than if they are working in a small team or for a small organisation.
The flipside of this of course, however, is presenteeism, or people still struggling into work while unwell and when they should really be off – something that can in fact be equally damaging and counter-productive.
Our report also found increased pressure and expectation around performance at work contributing to mental ill health absence, with 27% of employers citing this as a main reason. Indeed, coupled with rising workload, performance pressure and expectation is now recognised as an increasingly significant driver of mental ill health.
Another interesting finding is that, while rising workloads, covering for absence and performance expectation are being recognised as key stressors inside the workplace, there is also growing recognition that outside pressures – home, family and financial – can also play a significant role.
Employers need to be better equipped to understand the root cause and contributory risk factors of mental ill health absence. They need to be aware, too, of how workload is viewed to help colleagues better manage their workload and remain resilient.”
The two can bleed together and so mental health needs to be seen in the round, not as just something that is or isn’t to do with work.
For example, nearly two-thirds of employers (65%) in our poll pointed to the cost-of-living crisis as a factor in the rise in mental ill-health absence among their employees.
Interestingly, given its growing prevalence and popularity since the pandemic, more than a fifth (22%) of employers – so still a minority but a significant one – suggested a lack of support around hybrid and work-from-home situations was another reason for rising mental ill-health absence.
Factors here included the stress of juggling conflicting home and work demands (cited by 24% of employers this as a main reason for absence), worries about job security when an employee is out of sight at home (15%), and circumstances to do with personal and home life (46%).
So, what’s the answer? Employers, our data shows, are keenly aware that poor mental health and a rise in workplace absence are inextricably linked. Yet finding solutions to tackle this are less easily understood.
Employers need to be better equipped to understand the root cause and contributory risk factors of mental ill health absence. They need to be aware, too, of how workload is viewed to help colleagues better manage their workload and remain resilient.
I’d also argue there are six key steps – or relatively easy changes – employers can make to foster greater support and provider greater assistance around mental wellbeing.
1) Develop a strategy for data collection and analysis. This will allow the development of the most appropriate strategies for a business and its people.
2) Create a supportive workplace environment. This is about creating an environment where employees feel they can talk and seek confidential support when needed. Ensure employees have someone they can turn to when life is becoming harder to manage.
This might be done through one-to-one meetings, HR support, or by referring the colleague to a professional healthcare provider – for example their occupational health provider – for help.
3) Ensure that the strategies put in place not only address the presenting symptoms but the underlying causation of mental ill health as well. This will allow employers understand what they need to address to reduce the occupational factors within their control.
Employees, in the meantime, can then benefit from tailored care to ensure they received the most appropriate intervention at the most appropriate time.
4) Provide clear solutions and put clear signposts in place to help employees access the right support. With a struggling NHS and long waiting lists for treatment, NHS mental health support is not always quick and easy to access for many.
Where the health service cannot provide immediate help for those suffering from mental ill health, it is crucial that employers can and must offer solutions.
EAPs and workplace benefits, such as those that enable employees to access private healthcare, can offer targeted and specialist help.
5) Employers need to be better equipped to spot signs of burnout and fatigue. Managers need to help colleagues better manage workload, particularly when workloads rise, or pressures increase.
To return to our opening conversation, managers need to recognise they have a duty of care to ensure that employees are not overwhelmed while their colleagues are off sick or on annual leave.
Training in effective line management, emotional intelligence, holding effective and meaningful conversations (including difficult ones), and potentially mental health first aid can all help in this context.
When absences are known in advance, annual leave for example, it is important managers are reviewing the workload to ensure it doesn’t impact the employees who are covering.
Proper handover and delegation protocols can be key here, along with clear and effective communication around expectations, workload and what does (and doesn’t) need to be got done.
6) Seek to provide health and wellbeing benefits that lay the foundations for a strong, happy and present workforce. In return, you’ll have a positive, productive and profitable company.
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